New Age Alpha Advisors LLC Buys Shares of 6,163 Northrop Grumman Co. (NYSE:NOC)

New Age Alpha Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Northrop Grumman Co. (NYSE:NOC) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 6,163 shares of the aerospace company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,892,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Northrop Grumman by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 12,677,781 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $5,949,556,000 after buying an additional 56,807 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in shares of Northrop Grumman by 0.4% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 4,140,892 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $2,186,681,000 after acquiring an additional 17,596 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Northrop Grumman by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,003,360 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $1,581,644,000 after purchasing an additional 18,791 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its stake in Northrop Grumman by 6.2% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 2,426,270 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $1,315,729,000 after purchasing an additional 141,816 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in Northrop Grumman by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 832,463 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $390,667,000 after purchasing an additional 23,018 shares during the last quarter. 83.40% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

NOC has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Wolfe Research raised shares of Northrop Grumman from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Argus raised Northrop Grumman to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. StockNews.com lowered Northrop Grumman from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. UBS Group decreased their price target on Northrop Grumman from $579.00 to $558.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised Northrop Grumman from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $500.00 to $575.00 in a research report on Thursday. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Northrop Grumman has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $545.06.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP Benjamin R. Davies sold 192 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $429.08, for a total value of $82,383.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 709 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $304,217.72. This represents a 21.31 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Kathy J. Warden sold 3,750 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $475.65, for a total value of $1,783,687.50. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 212,852 shares in the company, valued at approximately $101,243,053.80. This represents a 1.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 4,505 shares of company stock valued at $2,126,405. 0.22% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Northrop Grumman Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE NOC opened at $511.86 on Friday. Northrop Grumman Co. has a 12-month low of $418.60 and a 12-month high of $555.57. The firm has a market capitalization of $74.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.73 and a beta of 0.31. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $478.20 and a 200 day moving average of $492.84.

Northrop Grumman (NYSE:NOC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The aerospace company reported $6.39 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $6.27 by $0.12. Northrop Grumman had a return on equity of 26.24% and a net margin of 10.17%. On average, research analysts anticipate that Northrop Grumman Co. will post 28.05 earnings per share for the current year.

Northrop Grumman Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 19th. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd were paid a dividend of $2.06 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $8.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.61%. Northrop Grumman’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 29.08%.

Northrop Grumman announced that its board has initiated a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, December 11th that allows the company to buyback $3.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the aerospace company to reacquire up to 4.3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Northrop Grumman Company Profile

Northrop Grumman Corporation operates as an aerospace and defense technology company in the United States, Asia/Pacific, Europe, and internationally. The company’s Aeronautics Systems segment designs, develops, manufactures, integrates, and sustains aircraft systems. This segment also offers unmanned autonomous aircraft systems, including high-altitude long-endurance strategic ISR systems and vertical take-off and landing tactical ISR systems; and strategic long-range strike aircraft, tactical fighter and air dominance aircraft, and airborne battle management and command and control systems.